Wyoming Women Salute, Part Two: Amber Pollock

Previously, Part One highlighted a woman of rodeo barrel racing, Cassidy Kruse of Gillette. Not every man understands that women can do rodeo. But now men – especially in the Cowboy State – are watching more and more women move into business management, and in this case, business ownership. Here we highlight one of these business women.

Amber is not only the owner of Casper’s first distillery, Backwards Distillery, she is also the founder of Wyoming Distillery Guild, which is a not-for-profit that supports the distillery crafts, and general industry.

At age 29, Amber Pollock is shaking up liquor production in Wyoming, with small batch vodka, rum, and more. The Pollocks (with mother and father Kathy and Bill Pollock) built from the ground up in Mills. In November of 2014, the first batch of "Ringleader Vodka" was small, but sales have quickly grown.

The story goes that a distillery was just an idea that came up in October 2012 during a family dinner.

Amber had actually just started a dream job as a music teacher, but this endeavor sounded more lucrative. Could it be a successful one? The homework on that question started right away.

A lot was learned about the craft distilleries boom. The Pollocks planned, bought property, materials, and kept planning. There was also that matter of proper licensing, and within three months after that dinner, Backwards Distillery was born.

They would open in December 2013, but production made that a bit optimistic in just over a year. In fact, the first release in late 2014 in just over two years is pretty impressive. It’s also impressive that it was only two and a half years ago, after research, testing and other details, which the Pollocks learned on their own.